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Wave of mutilation Lyrics

Artist: Pixies
Album: Death To The Pixies

cease to resist, giving my goodbyedrive my car into the oceanyou'll think i'm dead, but i sail awayon a wave of mutilationa wavewave

i've kissed mermaids, rode the el ninowalked the sand with the crustaceanscould find my way to marianaon a wave of mutilation,wave of mutilationwave of mutilationwave

wave of mutilationwave

Comments/Interpretations

by Jelehfi$h on 5/23/2008 3:54pmDuh. It's about mutilation and shit.

by al on 5/28/2008 2:10amno, maaaaannn. it's about society, dude

kidding

by itsallinthedelivery on 6/12/2008 6:16pmum... its about all those years ago when johnny and i were bleeding each other to death.

by Emma on 6/17/2008 6:11pmrofl

its just a fucking cool chill out song

noobs

by Enema on 6/23/2008 10:03pmIt's about suicide, figuratively, while surfing. If one could ride the best waves on the best beaches then there is nothing else to which to look forward. Listen to original on the way to the beach, then the movie version afterwards and you may hear what I mean.

by Yakuu on 7/5/2008 11:57pmIt's about nothing (like almost all of their songs)!! They took a few random ideas and mixed them in a bowl, ate and finally puke them in this kick ass song (both versions)

by Dorian on 7/11/2008 3:43pmIt's about El Nino. He said so in concert.

Dumbasses.

by Ben on 7/11/2008 9:39pmI think it's a love song, just my interpretation all the stuff you'd do for a girl?

by Lily on 7/21/2008 8:28pmEnema~I completely agree with you. It's about suicide, although my interpretation was about someone who had either shot themselves or cut their wrists. Hence the name: Wave of Mutilation.

Thoughts?

by Aline on 7/22/2008 1:07pmeither way, this song rocks my socks...sit back and relax, dude

by Gilles on 7/25/2008 9:24amit's about El Nino, i saw it on a concert vid. anywho, ben, you'd drive a car into the ocean for a chick?

by ChildinInfection on 8/1/2008 12:00amGilles i think your right, i mean the el nino created a lot of devastation so it seems like thats what it would be about.

haha also to the question to ben, hell yea i would drive my car into an ocean for a girl ^^

by Belalan on 8/15/2008 3:13amR u fucking blind??? Itsabout suicide this is an aussie talking and we fucking live with the el nino and it is harmless. The mention of El nino is for bragging rights.

by Sabruka on 8/31/2008 11:32amIt's about abandon.

by Brett N. on 9/3/2008 6:24pmAre you guys serious? I mean, really? C'mon kids. As I see it theres only 2 logical interpretations of this song. One, it uses surreal imagery(its namesake, for example) to sarcasticly depict the means Frank Black would go to in order to reach Mariana. Two, the song is a literal exersise in self-pity in which Frank drives his car into the ocean, killing himself. After which, he gives a tounge-in-cheek account of how he'll get to Mariana in which he appears to still be alive. I've been attracted to Pixies use of surreal and violent imagery for several years now and I have to admit; I think the most accurate interpretation is a combination of the two set forth above.

by musicmojo on 9/4/2008 2:22pmread the wiki about the Doolittle Record. Frank spills it all out..."Japanese Business man doing murder-suicides by driving off the edge of a pier".

by maeve on 9/4/2008 11:49pmIt reminds me of TS Eliot's prufrock poem. The man is so bored and anxious over the complicated expectations of living in the victorian upper class. there are a lot of things he says but two lines sort of remind me of this song when he wishes he was born "a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas" or near the end of the poem where he feels like he will never be good enough for the stuck up victorian women so he fantasizes about being drowned by singing mermaids. It's definately a stretch but the poem reminded me so much i felt i had to mention it here.

by Cody Muthafuckin Wirth on 9/9/2008 6:40pmI just watched a live performance of this song, and Black Francis said the song is about El Nino, period.

nuccas

by ur mum on 9/21/2008 6:18pmits about some jap who drove him self off of a peir and his body washed up on the shore of mexico or soem souther american city

by JohnPopes on 9/25/2008 1:31pmNo dude, it's about him trashing his car in the ocean, then making out with mermaids finally trying to get in mariana's panties..

by Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior on 10/12/2008 9:50pmIs it about me?

by ArynBear on 10/26/2008 7:52pmFuck that.Its just a song.A good one at that.

Let it be.They would have explained it if It was meant to be known.

by M.C. Swell on 11/1/2008 3:19pmUg, guys? Its obviously about the freedom of riding skateboards in todays success obsessed and materialized society.

by DRAKE AND JOSH on 11/20/2008 9:12pmasdafa

by FISH on 11/21/2008 4:27pmWOW, I can't believe i just read all of this. every song has a different meaning to everyone, so just enjoy your own feelings when you hear it! Great Song (both ver.)!!!!

by colleen on 11/24/2008 12:06amIt's actually about the suicides of Japanese business men in the late 1980's.

by CrustaceanMan on 11/25/2008 3:58pmIt's the Pixies.Com on.They don't have meanings behind their songs, they just put whatever sounds cool and funny.

by mmm on 11/25/2008 5:29pmIt's about El Niņo tropical current... a lot of the Pixies songs deal with ecological disasters. Even BF says the song is about that.

by Alan on 11/27/2008 7:50pmHe did claim in concert (jokingly) that he was the first to write about El Nino. The song isn't actually literally about El Nino. The Jappy businessman story sounds pretty good, though. BUT the beauty of the Pixies is that you can interpret their songs in a million different ways. Just pull up and acoustic guitar and enjoy.

by scott mmmm on 12/13/2008 1:39amsorry, you people are so un-skuled. it all references the french new wave movie classic, pierrot le feu. pierrot drives his car with marianna in it into the ocean, at some point she runs away from him, he tries to find her. in the end (don't read this if you see want to see the movie, and you should) shoots her and tires a band of dynamite around his head, then lights it - mutilation. the last scene is looking out at ocean waves. they did a video with scenes from the movie as well. sorry to be a know it all.

by syoaran on 12/17/2008 10:57pmits cease to exist

by syoaran on 12/17/2008 10:59pmand its "youll think im dead, but im still alive"

by nigger on 12/29/2008 9:44pmi suck pp's

by what? on 1/3/2009 10:54pmthis is stupidpixies have meaning behind their songs.. and who cares what it really means.. dumb asssesss

by dave on 1/12/2009 11:36amYou know I didn't think through El Nino when it happened, that shit was pretty weird. I hope she's okay.

by Jonny P on 1/14/2009 3:25pmWho's this Nino guy then and why'd he drive a car in the ocean?He must be like foreign to be like 'El' Nino. Maybe that's why he drove in the ocean? What do you think?

by MNK on 1/16/2009 5:07pmThis is the first time I've actually seen the lyrics. When I heard them I always thought he was singing "wave of ululation"...ain't ambiguity grand?

by Vivienne on 1/31/2009 1:17pmthis appears in pump up the volume.. hell of a song! love it

by neuman the spaniel on 2/2/2009 5:09ami think its about how the pixies mutilate your brains with their awesomeness and afterwords you go "what the f#$% was that?" so you google the song name and relate your story to the other mutilites out there...

by FFS! on 2/7/2009 9:25amYou guys are just wrong. This song is about being a Pixies' song and making absolutely no sense at all, but musically rocking so hard that you will have yourself screaming their random lyrics until your vocal chords start hurting.

by johnnyutah on 2/12/2009 1:11amtennyson-mariana

and brett n. and scott mmmmm are the only ones with a clue.

by HexRei on 2/13/2009 10:12pmScott MMM is correct. Check out the UK surf video for this, it is a sampling of the movie Scott mentioned wherein the events of the song happen exactly in the movie. Now u are educated.

by protegemoi on 2/14/2009 7:50pmhonestly...you guys can't see thishe's talking about doing these things because he's on a road of self-destructionhence the "wave of mutiliation"look up what mutiliation means in the dictionary.

by me on 2/15/2009 11:48pmPump up the Volume is one of the greatest movies ever, with a fantastic soundtrack (maybe not on the record, but in the movie itself) Leonard Cohen's Everybody knows..on the movie, the sndtrk is someone covering. good stuff. and, of course, the pixies.

by me again on 2/18/2009 7:32pmAnd for real, like all great songs, it is left to interpretation. But I think it's obviously about choosing to completely give in to addiction. Yeah, self-destruction, but he thinks he's going to enjoy his ride to hell.

by F-Off on 2/27/2009 7:52amIts about El Nino. Its in the song. Think about it. Wave of mutilation as in tidal wave. While its pretty much nonsense it is about El Nino and that is final. Frank Black said that is what this song is about numerous times. Get over yourselves and look it up. Its not about suicide you dumb asses. Listen to the line "You think I'm dead but I sail away..." Clearly he is not dead. No suicide. Its just about getting caught up by El Nino.

by You all are: on 2/28/2009 7:09pmFAGS

by lol on 3/4/2009 12:47amseems like a different way of viewing death to me

by Get it right on 3/5/2009 12:55amThe lyric is MARIANAS, not MARIANA. As in Marianas Trench, the deepest spot in the Pacific Ocean. There is also an indesputable nautical theme running throughout the song, and album. As for El Nino.. it doesn't cause tidal waves; it does change surfing conditions.. just another Mexican surf reference.

by URFUCKINDUMB on 3/17/2009 12:50pmIts about El Nino he says at his fuckin concert.... Gtfo there is no other meaning

by Terry Wogan on 3/24/2009 5:09pmI'm going out on a limb here, but I think it's about the ethical problem of culling badgers to stop them from spreading tuberculosis. If you read "El Nino" to mean "TB" and "mermaids" to mean "badgers" and "car" as "combine harvester", it just about works.

by People Think They're SOOO smart. on 4/14/2009 3:39pmIt's not about ANYTHING! Christ! Everyone thinks they're a psychologist. He saw a story in a newspaper about a Japanese guy who drove his car into the ocean and decided to write a meaningless song about it. That's it!

by gris on 4/23/2009 10:59pmamo a esta grupo

by Brad on 4/27/2009 1:08pmI agree that this is open to interpretation, but isn't it possible that he is actually saying "Marianas" and not "Mariana"? "Marianas" being the Marianas Trench, a place in the ocean, not a chick named Mariana. It makes more sense to find your way to a location after you drive into the ocean, then to find your way to some chick. But whatever. It's still a cool song and a great album.

by Brad on 4/27/2009 1:11pmSorry Get it, didn't see your post. Got fed up after the first 10 or so people didn't get the Marianas Trench thing. Also Terry is correct. I talked to Frank Black about it yesterday in the bathroom of an Outback Steakhouse and he said that is what the song is about.

by CAIN on 5/7/2009 6:27pmI't's all about this girl Mariana. And that's all!

Cain has spoken!

lol :P

by Lasagna on 5/9/2009 7:20pmNow taking information from a man named lasagna may be a poor idea, I get the vibe it's about suicide on the beach or dying while riding El Nino, as the wave of mutilation could be the title of the wave or something.

Or it could be that a band who writes songs called Monkey Gone to Heaven and Caribou couldve just rolled with it.

by japoy on 6/6/2009 9:30pmi saw a video on youtube that its about EL NINO

by JULIAN on 6/17/2009 1:24pmits about a massive fucking wave

by andypandy on 6/18/2009 5:32pmI HOPE U ALL READ THIS:

One day in your lives you'll be tired and just you'll just want to leave it all behind and go. nowhere. don't caring. just leaving the pain and going. mutilate it out of you.this is what the song's about.

surf, el nino, mermaids, cars in oceans are just a figure of speech, a way of saying: sometime I just feel tired and inside of me I find places to go where it's ok. it's just a little bit of poetry.

by andypandy on 6/18/2009 5:35pmplus listen to the UK version. You'll find the real feel of the lyrics (though Doolittle's version is quite a piece of rock!!)

by Grey on 6/25/2009 8:21amI don't think anyone will ever know the true meaning to this song. The magic of it is, that you can find your own meaning in the lyrics, nothing is forced upon you.

by My TV Has a Gun on 7/1/2009 7:52pmIt's about how the first cut feels like Christmas morning.

Or possibly an amphibious surfing/bipolar fish that was once a cab driver, and found his nino and marianna just to dine on crustaceans as comets lit the dusk sky.

Or maybe it just rocks.

by olive on 7/6/2009 10:56pmi can't say for sure what it's about, but i bear in mind that 'mutilation' is a transformative word, and it always seemed to me to be about giving in and just accepting what was... the ocean imagery gives it a natural and intended feel to the change. just give in, it's a good thing.

by mslack on 8/6/2009 9:27pmI read that it was inspired by this phenomenon in Japan when people would load their family into a car, then drive it into the ocean in mass suicide.

by silvernode on 8/15/2009 10:10pmIt's about el 'nino

by gswiss on 8/27/2009 2:58pmjust an idea, but could mariana refer to the marianas trench? and not a woman at all?

by Dizcordina on 8/28/2009 1:59pmThat's the way I've always thought of it. I spent a beautiful but dark time on the Mariana Islands, I was riding a big wave such as that. It was a bizarre land that David Lynch could write an entire mini series on. Now I even chuckle at the coincidence that I got my first tattoo there.

by ZincAlloy on 9/13/2009 2:29pmJust because Frank said it's about El Niņo it doesn't mean it's about El Niņo! It's about contemplating suicide and the possibility of Heaven. It's like Bird Dream of Olympus Mons, he said it's about a bird dreaming about going to Mars which is only PARTLY true. They're called hidden meaning guys. Hidden meanings.

by thnoutyhor28 on 9/14/2009 3:33pmgood job dorian i didnt think anyone was going to get it right

by Dazzybry on 9/25/2009 10:48amwho cares? you draw your own meaning from it, like most of the best songs out there. just accept what it means to you. Anyone that posts what the meaning actually is, other than Frank black himself, are not going to be right!

by Name on 10/15/2009 10:27amit's definitely about cake and cookies.

by Veronica on 10/16/2009 9:15pmIt's about freedom.

by Ruby.Love on 11/6/2009 5:16pmthe Pixies' music isnt supposed to be about and ONE thing...thats the beauty of their music;its open for interpretation..their lyrics can mean anything to anyone. thats why i love them

by wow on 11/23/2009 12:28amthis is some of the greatest stuff i've ever read.

by GwendyDarling on 12/17/2009 12:45pm It's about a french film where this guy drives his car into the ocean with his girlfriend Mariana, and she drowns but he doesn't so he goes and either shoots himself in the face or slits his throat (I don't remember which but it was gory) in the water cause he figures the WAVES would carry his MUTILATED body across the water to MARIANA.

THAT being said, knowing the Pixies it's probably ALSO some kind of social commentary. Maybe about freedom?

by the absolute truth on 1/11/2010 8:19amis about riding a car off a cliff into the water waves and rocks.

by unknown on 2/12/2010 3:59pmits a suicide/farewell lyric

by me myself on 2/27/2010 11:54amthanks scott mmm....you have skuled me..I am now wiser..I'm guessing the rest of you are teenagers bent on making facts out of opinions...good luck with that

by whewdammpixiesRAWK on 3/4/2010 6:55pmeww i cant believe i spelled rock wrong.... and all of you dooshs are wrong!!!! im 12 yrs old,and i know more about the pixies than you!!!!!! naw just tryin to piss people offf... anyways i saw this song in twice in concerttt and it wuz awesome...... byebye now

by Rookie on 3/6/2010 1:59pmTo me the song is about escaping this fucking world, pretending i'm dead, turning of the phone, not opening the door, smokin a joint and just have a moment of relax, escapin work and everyone trying to get hold of you! I love this song! I've loved it since I was like 16. It so f'kin good!!

by my mind on 3/25/2010 4:31pmwow was just curious to see the lyrics after seeing Pixies live in Auckland. Do ya really think Black Francis has only one influence on his lyrics... A few lines of Tennyson, a French film, living on this freakin planet I'm just so rapt he intertwined all these creative musings with Kim Deal, Joey Santiago

by JKM MET on 5/7/2010 4:44pmIts about when me and my girlfriend having the time of our lives partying doing coke, pills. this whole album reminds me of those crazy troubled times, to many drugs. I swear everytime I listen I do a time warp, vivid memories, she was so hott!!

by lalala on 5/29/2010 10:34amcool their songs have different meanings for everyone. Is about fishing I think and mixed with your own blood, but still happy because you don't care

by kyle on 6/14/2010 5:56pmJoy zippers verson is better SO MUCH BETTER is dont fucker care

by Fandabbledozy on 8/24/2010 6:21pmIt's actually about being so happy that you're speechless - "mutilation" is a play on "mute elation"

by existent on 10/11/2010 4:31pmyou are all wasting your time trying to decide which of your collective interpretations is correct when none of you can be correct. the only people that can tell you what the song is about are those who wrote it. So you'd really have to ask Francis, and even then you'd have to trust his answer instead of your own.You should, instead, just enjoy the music and the creativity that it inspired in them and yourselves, for you have all come up with valid interpretations yourselves.

by Your face on 10/29/2010 1:32amAnyone with a hint of intelligence will agree with me when I say this song clearly was written about WHO THE FUCK CARES!

by Mutilation lover on 11/5/2010 10:04amHmm... You know, songs can have tons of different meanings.

Or maybe your all over analysing it. Maybe IT MEANS NOTHING AT ALL.Just a thought.

It could mean that people bicker about pointless and random things, to...

by ABstractDOuche on 11/17/2010 11:49amMariana = Mariana's Trench

Most FB/Pixies stuff doesn't have to make sense. It's exactly whatever the hell you want it to be.

In concert he's mentioned he wrote about EL Nino before it was a big deal in the news. That's what he said. See the videotape.

by SmartyPants on 12/18/2010 7:39pmYes clearly all you people trying to interpret the song in the "interpretations" section are morons. This section is here to comment on how dumb you are and how smart everyone else is who believe it means nothing.

by Debaser on 12/20/2010 4:31pmIts about all the beautiful things on the earth and in the ocean and how man wants it but ends up just destroying it on a wave of mutilation

by Shawnyshawnshawn on 1/28/2011 1:26pmYou know people, the songs about whatever you want it to be,the pixies are contemporary, judge yourself the meanings of the song go by how it makes you feel.

by illovich on 1/29/2011 1:38amThe artists chose those words for a reason. Part of what makes those lyrics so good is how many ideas they embody.

I think they are talking about giving in to the consumer mentality. Not economically but actually in a hedonistic sense. Saying screw it and going for pure pig out hedonism with no regard for the consequences. You think you'll die doing it but it'll be a hell of a ride, especially if you're in a rock band like the pixies. The trail of mutilation they are riding is the destruction a rock and roll lifestyle leads in it's wake.

In this context the under sea references are really daydreams of all the crazy crap you'd do if you were on tour in a rock band.

by superduper on 2/5/2011 12:48amPixies rule.You are all a bunch of wankers.

by bompalompalomp on 2/11/2011 7:04pmHave people really been discussing this for three years on a lyrics page? That's kind of beautiful.

Pixies lyrics have this effect, I think... where the lyrics are vague but purposeful and seem to have an inherent if somewhat elusive meaning. The fact that the melody and words themselves are so simple and yet mean so many different things to different people shows how successful this band is.

by replaceablehead on 3/1/2011 12:47amummm that el nino thing he said in concert was a joke... it was kind of obvious.

by Bill and Ted on 3/4/2011 6:43pmIt's about loving puppies you idiots its as plain as daY CANT YOU SEE IT

by mega.sky.eye on 3/18/2011 1:08pm in my mind the song is about using heroin and going on the wave of mutilation..just a thought

by ADDHD on 4/10/2011 12:43amIt's about mutilating waves............it's not hard people.

by Jym on 5/19/2011 12:06amit's about me

by FTC on 6/26/2011 1:08amOne of the chillest songs ever. Look at comments.

Lol Internet.

by WOM on 6/26/2011 2:51pmThe truth is, it's about my neighbor... a cave man who runs his lawn mower over everything in a blind demolition derby. The mower chokes on branches and dirt and he just steps back... and starts it up again. Grass, ferns, rose bushes, rocks, driveway. The guy's a fuckin' Fred Flintstone on meth. I dedicate this song to him !

by hey on 8/13/2011 9:45amIt's a surf song,a tribute to a mythilogical figure who has tamed all the waves from Waikiki to Torquay.It's a tone pome,where all the sounds of the words are chosen to create the mood of the song

by mega.sky.eye on 8/25/2011 7:09amthat makes more sense ty hey

by Eraserhead on 9/16/2011 1:38pmPixies songs aren't about a specific meaning, they're about a feeling. This song could easily be about suicide, that makes perfect sense, but really it's generally about breaking free, whether breaking free of life or society or whatever, that's what I take from it. I fucking love Pixies :)

by Mariana on 12/11/2011 12:21pmI just looked this up to check if he was really singing "find my way to Mariana", because that's my name.

As for what the song's about... well, it's about me of course! :p

by Zen10 on 1/29/2012 8:01amIts about surviving a destructive disaster whether made man or natural. I think the words el nino and the title of the song wave of mutilation reminds me of a tsunami. Sometimes nature or life just crashes mercilessly upon our heads and no matter how powerful the event, somehow if we can survive, it defines us as the people we are.

by dork man on 2/24/2012 8:43pmcat

by lithead on 6/5/2012 2:27pmI'm pretty sure that he's talking about the Marianas Trench, which is the deepest place on Earth, at the bottom of the ocean. (James Camerson just made a documentary about taking a small submersible craft down there to the bottom - and there's literally nothing but mud, nothing living.)

by jos on 9/11/2012 7:32pmIt is gooi!!!

by roctroy on 10/1/2012 3:01pmHave yourself a doobie the size of a road cone then try interpreting it, see what you come up with then.

by Big Bepe Malone on 12/3/2012 2:04pmThe song is actually about Japanese businessmen comiitting suicide after they'd failed in business. It was a modern form of seppuku. Diring off a pier with their families to their death, rather then face the shame of being jobless.

by Willow on 1/6/2013 7:20pmI'm french and I don't understand anything to the lyrics. Nevermind, it's STRONG.

by jj on 1/10/2013 12:51pmThere were several cases of Japanese business men purposefully driving their cars into the ocean, with their family with them.

by caca on 3/24/2013 9:39pmcaca

by Jin on 4/21/2013 12:38pmI thought it was about the kamikaze pilots.

by jm on 4/24/2013 9:19amThe imagery is very vivid. second verse sounds like he transmuted into something and is now enjoying himself, and he's heading for the Marana trench. Where it's dark and cool.

by Stoned on 9/2/2013 3:12pmWell, kinda stoned when listening to it, so meanings could be hundreds. But I close my eyes to this song & see my self a surfing dude on a hugewave (A mutilater). But I'm kinda stoned now, so ....

by Blah on 12/12/2013 7:55amit's about sailing a car on a wave of mutilation. Obviously.

by Baby Blu on 3/7/2014 7:21pmsaw this on a skate videos end credits, its about pain being beauty